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The Furze Field

  • Trad

    I have got a furze field, my own dearest jewel
    Where all my fine pheasants do fly
    And if you come a-shooting when shooting's in season
    I'll tell you, love, how to proceed
    You bring your dog with you, your gun in your hand
    All loaded and primed and all at your command
    When the pheasants take flight you must take sight
    You shoot the next moment - you're sure to be right

    I have got a fishpond, my own dearest jewel
    Where all my fine fishes do swim
    And if you come a-fishing when fishing's in season
    I'll tell you, love, how to begin
    You bring your rod with you, your line in your hand
    Your hooks and your angles all at your command
    When you throws in all the fishes will play
    It's down to the bottom, love, that's the right way

    I have got a warren, my own dearest jewel
    Where all my fine rabbits do run
    And if you come a-ferreting when ferreting's in season
    I'll tell you, love, how to begin
    You bring your dog with you, your ferrets in your hand
    Your nets and your shovels all at your command
    And the ferrets will bolt and the rabbits will play
    And it's down to the bottom, love, that's the right way

    I have got a deer park, my own dearest jewel
    Where all my fine deer I do keep
    And if you come a-hunting when hunting's in season
    I'll tell you, love, how to proceed
    You bring your dog with you, your nag in your hand
    All saddled and bridled all at your command
    And the deer they will prowl and the dogs they will brawl
    And it's then, Gee up, Dobbin - and back they will fall

    Now some do like hunting and some do like game
    And shooting the pheasants is gentlemen's game
    But fishing in the fishpond is all my delight
    You shoot the next moment - you're sure to be right

    (as sung by The Watersons)

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

  • [1967:] Jokey southern counties song, connecting the images of love and hunting. (Notes Martin Carthy, 'Byker Hill')

  • [1967:] Among a profusion of women-as-landscape songs, a handsome specimen is The furze field. [...] To identify sex relations with ordnance displays is an old joke. [...] It has been remarked that The furze field is in the form of an invitation offered by a woman, but that is no evidence that the song was made by one, or necessarily meant to be sung by females. The sporting interest is masculine and the song is of the kind that generally pleases men more than women. In many parts of the world one finds erotic folk songs that are ostensibly from the woman's viewpoint without really being so. To men, singers and listeners, such songs are all the funnier for being put that way, and rather reassuring too. (Lloyd, England 189f)

  • [1981:] This now widely-known bit of amorous symbology was collected by George B. Gardiner from Moses Mills, Preston Candover, Alresford, Hants, in 1907. [...] Colin Cater added a bit at the end of the song. (A. L. Lloyd, notes The Watersons, 'Green Fields')

Quelle: England

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